Pelosi, Defying Predictions, Says She Will Seek Re-election in 2024

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Since she stepped down from leadership last year, many observers expected Representative Nancy Pelosi of California to head toward retirement. But she has kept people guessing about her future.

Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, served for decades as the Democratic Party’s House leader and was the first woman to become speaker. | Pete Marovich for The New York Times
Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, who served for decades as the Democratic Party’s House leader and was the first woman to become speaker, announced on Friday that she would seek re-election in 2024, ending months of speculation about her political future.

“In light of the values of San Francisco, which we’ve always been proud to promote, I’ve made the decision to seek re-election,” Ms. Pelosi said on Friday at an event in her hometown focused on organized labor. » | Annie Karni, Reporting from Washington | Friday, September 8, 2023

Here Are the 20 Oldest Members of Congress: Congress has long been an institution that runs on seniority and rewards longevity, and these veteran lawmakers are still running the country at an age when most people are well into retirement. »

Young Turks Founder Cenk Uygur Announces Congressional Bid

TRUTH DIG: Cenk Uygur, host and founder of the online progressive news show The Young Turks, announced late Thursday that he is running for the California congressional seat left vacant by the recent resignation of Rep. Katie Hill.

“I’m going to represent those people in a way that they have not seen before. I will not be a standard politician. I will fight for them,” Uygur said in his announcement Thursday. “I’m going to fight to get money out of politics, and I’m going to call it like it is.”

“You know what campaign donations are from big corporations and lobbyists? Bribes,” Uygur added. “They’re bribes when Republicans take them, they’re also bribes when Democrats take them. I’m not going to take any of that, and I’m going to fight to get you guys higher wages and to get you healthcare that your family needs.” » | Jake Johnson / Common Dreams | Friday, November 15, 2019

Yemen War: Congress Votes to End US Military Assistance to Saudi Arabia

THE GUARDIAN: House voted 247-175 to send the resolution to Trump’s desk, where it is likely to be met with a veto

Congress has given final approval on a resolution to end American military assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, in an unprecedented attempt to curtail the president’s power to go to war and a sweeping rebuke to Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

The House voted 247 to 175 to send the resolution to the president’s desk, where it is likely to be met with a veto. Sixteen Republicans broke ranks and joined Democrats in the effort. The Senate passed the resolution last month, with seven Republicans voting in favor of it.

The resolution’s passage sets up another confrontation between Congress and Trump, who has already threatened to veto it. The White House has said the resolution raises “serious constitutional concerns”. » | Lauren Gambino and Julian Borger in Washington | Thursday, April 4, 2019

Rubio on Saudi Arabia: If Trump Won't Act, Congress Will

Iranian Foreign Minster Warns Geneva Nuclear Deal Is 'Dead' If US Passes New Sanctions

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: "The entire deal is dead," Javad Zarif says as White House tries to rein in senators

Iran's foreign minister has warned that the historic nuclear deal agreed in Geneva will be "dead" if the US Congress moves ahead with threats to pass new sanctions.

Javad Zarif told Time that any new sanctions would show a "lack of seriousness" by the US, breaching the terms of last month's interim deal and scuppering hopes for a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear deal.

His intervention comes as the White House fights to stop the Senate from passing fresh sanctions designed to kick in if no final deal is reached or Iran breaches the terms of the Geneva accord.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will appear before Congress on Tuesday and argue that any sanctions would undermine the delicate diplomatic progress made in recent months.

Mr Zarif, his Iranian counter-part, echoed that argument when asked how Tehran would respond to new American sanctions.

"The entire deal is dead," he said. "We do not like to negotiate under duress." » | Raf Sanchez, Washington | Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Will Rand Paul Filibuster a Vote on Syrian Resolution?

Kentucky senator on 'Fox News Sunday'

Should Obama Act Without Public Support

Alan Grayson: Syria 'Is Not Our Responsibility'

The congressional debate to get involved in Syria continued on Capitol Hill on Thursday, and while President Obama is at the G-20 summit in Russia, lawmakers from both sides showed their support for and against the proposed efforts. The motion to implement strikes on the Syrian regime for allegedly using chemical weapons on its own people moved forward on Wednesday when the United States Senate of Foreign Relations Committee authorized involvement in the Middle Eastern country. But Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) said he will do his best to influence other lawmakers that this isn't our problem. He joins us now to explain his position.

Tell Congress: Don’t Attack Syria »

'Obama to Attack Syria Regardless How Congress Votes'

America's envoy to the United Nations singled out Russia for criticism - for its outspoken opposition to strikes. And that's as the UN chief himself ruled out a military solution to the Syrian crisis - warning that a strike would have tragic consequences and fuel sectarian violence in the region. Investigative journalist Charlie McGrath has commented on the U.S. envoy's statements - saying international trust in Washington's words has all but eroded.

Wide Awake News »

Syria: John Kerry Stumbles on Use of US Ground Troops

John Kerry stumbled as he made the White House's case for war, first saying that US ground troops could be deployed if Syria "imploded" before hastily insisting there "will not be American boots on the ground".

Read the article and comment here | Raf Sanchez, Washington and Jon Swaine in New York | Tuesday, September 03, 2013

The End of U.S. Imperium—Finally!

THE DAILY BEAST: Congress’s upcoming vote on Syria could bring to a close decades of incessant American meddling and bullying around the world. It’s about time, says David Stockman.

Next week Congress can do far more than stop a feckless Tomahawk barrage on a small country that is already a graveyard of civil war and sectarian slaughter. By voting “no,” it can trigger the end of the American Imperium—five decades of incessant meddling, bullying, and subversion around the globe that has added precious little to national security but left America fiscally exhausted and morally diminished.

Indeed, the tragedy of this vast string of misbegotten interventions—from the 1953 coup against Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran through the recent bombing campaign in Libya—is that virtually none of them involved defending the homeland or any tangible, steely-eyed linkages to national security. They were all rooted in ideology—that is, anti-communism, anti-terrorism, humanitarianism, R2P-ism, nation building, American exceptionalism. These were the historic building blocks of a failed Pax Americana. Now the White House wants authorization for the last straw: namely, to deliver from the firing tubes of U.S. naval destroyers a dose of righteous “punishment” that has no plausible military or strategic purpose. By the president’s own statements, the proposed attack is merely designed to censure the Syrian regime for allegedly visiting one particularly horrific form of violence on its own citizens.

Well, really? After having rained napalm, white phosphorous, bunker busters, drone missiles, and the most violent machinery of conventional warfare ever assembled upon millions of innocent Vietnamese, Cambodians, Serbs, Somalis, Iraqis, Afghans, Pakistanis, Yemeni, Libyans, and countless more, Washington now presupposes to be in the moral-sanctions business? That’s downright farcical. Nevertheless, by declaring himself the world’s spanker in chief, President Obama has unwittingly precipitated the mother of all clarifying moments.

The screaming strategic truth is that America no longer has any industrial state enemies capable of delivering military harm to its shores: Russia has become a feeble kleptocracy run by a loud-mouthed thief, and the Communist Party oligarchs in China would face a devastating economic collapse within months were they to attack their American markets for sneakers and Apples. So the real question now before Congress is, how is it possible that the peace-loving citizens of America, facing no industrial-scale military threat from anywhere on the planet, find themselves in a constant state of war? The answer is that they have been betrayed by the Beltway political class, which is in thrall to a vast warfare state apparatus that endlessly invents specious reasons for meddling, spying, intervention, and occupation. » | David Stockman | Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Split Congress Mulls Denial of Military Force Request

BLOOMBERG: No U.S. president has ever been turned down by Congress when asking to use military force.

President Barack Obama doesn’t want to become the first. To avoid that with a request for military action in Syria, he’ll have to win over war-weary Democrats, Tea Party members who don’t see a threat to U.S. interests and other lawmakers who want more details and more time.

Obama has supporters on both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Senate, where he’ll need a handful of Republican votes. It’s a tougher path in the House, where an alliance of Tea Party members and left-leaning Democrats is coalescing against using force in Syria. » | Michael C. Bender & Roxana Tiron | Tuesday, September 03, 2013

Get-out Clause: Obama Can Blame Congress If They Vote against Syria War

Washington already has a lot of naval power on standby in the Mediterranean and that was even before Obama made it clear he wants to attack Syria. Congress says it will decide on whether to use this military might when it's back from its break on September 9th. Phyllis Bennis, director of the Institute for policy studies who's written extensively on the Middle East and the U.S. foreign policy joins RT studio.

Obama Decides to Strike Syria, Seeks Congressional Approval

President Barack Obama says he has decided the US should take military action against Syria in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack that reportedly took over 1,400 lives. However, he will first seek authorization from Congress.

Now Obama Puts Syria Strike On Ice

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama declared his intention to launch punitive military strikes against Syria over its use of chemical weapons. But he said he would delay the action until he had sought the support of Congress.

After a day of frenzied preparations in the United States and across the Middle East, Mr Obama announced that as America’s Commander-in-Chief he had the authority to order military action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. He said he was “prepared to give that order”.

But, he added, he judged that “the country will be stronger” if legislators were consulted first.

“After careful deliberation I have decided the United States should take military action against Syrian targets,” Mr Obama said. “I’m confident we can hold the Assad regime accountable for their use of chemical weapons.

“I’m ready to act in the face of this outrage. Today I’m asking Congress to send a message to the world, that we are ready to move forward together as a nation.”

The announcement represents a major gamble for the US President, two days after David Cameron lost a vote in the Commons when MPs refused to support British military action.

Mr Obama’s intention to seek a vote means a likely delay of up to 10 days until Congress returns, unless a decision is taken to recall it sooner.

Congressional leaders said they would consider the matter in the week of Sept 9.

Mr Obama said he was prepared to act “without the approval of a United Nations Security Council that so far has been paralysed”, but added: “This decision is too big to go ahead without debate.” » | Peter Foster in Washington, Robert Watts and Ben Farmer | Saturday, August 31, 2013

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama on Syria: text in full: President Barack Obama outlined his plan to launch military intervention in Syria on Saturday, but said he would seek approval from Congress first. Here is the full transcript of his speech. » | Saturday, August 31, 2013

Kevin Calvey Turns Down Money from Hamas-linked CAIR
THE OKLAHOMAN: Oklahoma congressional candidate Kevin Calvey says he will not accept money from a state Islamic group. Group's director said he made the personal donation in hopes of starting a dialogue with Calvey.

A congressional candidate has refused a campaign donation from the executive director of an Islamic-American association, saying the group has ties to terrorist groups.

Kevin Calvey, a candidate for the 5th Congressional District seat, said Wednesday he refused a $25 online donation from Razi Hashim, the executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.

Hashim said his donation was a personal contribution and not meant to be affiliated with the nonprofit group that employs him.

"I thought on a personal level, we could talk as two men, as people of God,” Hashim said. "Jesus said to love your neighbor; we have similar teachings in Islam as well.”

Calvey has been vocal in his opposition of the council nationally, pointing to the 2007 case against the Holy Land Foundation in which 307 people and the council were listed as "unindicted co-conspirators.”

In 2008, a jury found members of the foundation guilty of funneling money to the militant group Hamas. One of the men found guilty was a member of the Texas branch of the council.

"That's not my opinion, that is a fact,” said Calvey, an attorney who was deployed to Iraq as a member of the National Guard. "That's what our own government says about CAIR.”

Hashim said Calvey has a history of bashing Muslims. >>> Julie Bisbee | Thursday, July 15, 2010

HT: Jihad Watch >>>



Kevin Calvey >>>

Republicans Could Win Control of Congress, White House Admits for First Time
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The White House has admitted for the first time that Republicans could win control of the House of Representatives in crucial elections in November.

Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
Robert Gibbs, the president's spokesman, acknowledged that deep frustration with the economy could see the Democrats' 75-seat majority in the lower chamber wiped out.

"There is no doubt there are enough seats at play that could cause Republicans to gain control, there is no doubt about that," Mr Gibbs told NBC's "Meet the Press".

All 435 seats in the House are up for grabs in the Nov 2 election as well as 36 of the 100 seats in the Senate, which the Democrats expect to hold.

The party is considered particularly vulnerable in southern and midwestern states, districts that turned Democratic in the latter years of the Bush administration. A consensus has emerged among Washington observers that the House would be lost or the ruling party's majority reduced to a handful of seats.

Such outcomes would make it difficult for President Barack Obama to push through his agenda, which is likely to include major reform of energy and immigration. It would not augur well for his re-election bid in 2012. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Sunday, July 11, 2010

Facing Congressional Wrath, BP Chief Apologizes for Oil Disaster
BP CEO Tony Hayward arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 17, 2010, to testify before the House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee hearing on "the role of BP in the Deepwater Horizon Explosion and oil spill. Photo:
FOX NEWS: In a congressional hearing Thursday that some have described as a public execution, BP chief executive Tony Hayward told Congress that he is "deeply sorry" for the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hayward's testimony came after members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's oversight and investigations subcommittee took turns in a long-awaited public flogging intended to capture the outrage of the nation.

Hayward sat grim-faced before the panel, which is investigating the explosion that killed 11 workers and unleashed a flood of oil that has yet to be stemmed.

Lawmakers accused Hayward, who has come to represent charges of corporate arrogance and greed, of being oblivious to the risks of the company's deepwater operations.

Some of the sharpest criticism came from Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich.

"We are not small people. But we wish to get our lives back," he told Hayward. "I'm sure you'll get your life back, and with a golden parachute to England."

It was a reference to Hayward's much-criticized earlier remark that some day he hoped to get "my life back" and to comments on the White House driveway on Wednesday by BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg that "we care about the small people" of the Gulf Coast.

Hayward sipped a beverage and jotted notes as one lawmaker after another scorched him. Read on and comment >>> | Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Barack Obama Requests $50 Billion in Emergency Funding from Congress
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama has sought to shore up the US economy with a request for $50 billion (£34 billion) in emergency funding from Congress to save the jobs of "hundreds of thousands" of teachers, firemen and policemen.

He said the aid, which also included measures to help small businesses, was essential to ensure that the country did not "slide backwards just as our recovery is taking hold".

"It is essential that we continue to explore additional measures to spur job creation and build momentum toward recovery, even as we establish a path to long-term fiscal discipline," Mr Obama wrote in a letter sent to party leaders in Congress.

Pointing out that 84,000 public sector jobs had been lost so far this year, he said keeping people employed in the short term would cost less than their unemployment.

The demand to inject further government spending into the economy puts America on the opposite course to its major trading partners in the developed world. Britain, Germany, Japan, France and Italy have all announced cuts after boosting spending to counter the recession in recent years.

Mr Obama is also likely to encounter stiff domestic opposition. Republicans immediately criticised the president for seeking to spend more money when the national debt has risen to £9.6 trillion.

John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives, said spending more public money without offsetting the costs was irresponsible.

"The spending spree in Washington continues unabated, though the American people are screaming at the top of their lungs: 'Stop'." >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Sunday, June 13, 2010

Obamonomics©: A Definition >>>

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Congress Blocks Indiscriminate IMF Aid for Europe
TELEGRAPH BLOG – AMBROSE EVANS-PRITCHARD: Europe may have to clean up its own mess after all. The US Senate has voted 94:0 to block use of taxpayers’ money for IMF rescues that make no economic sense or bail-outs for countries like Greece that far are beyond the point of no return.

“This amendment will help prevent American taxpayer dollars from underwriting dysfunctional governments abroad,” said Texas Senator John Cornyn, the chief sponsor. “American taxpayers have seen more bailouts than they can stomach, and the last thing they should have to worry about are their hard-earned tax dollars being used to rescue a foreign government. Greece is not by any stretch of the imagination too big to fail.”

Co-sponsor David Vitter from Louisiana said America had run out of money. “Our country already owes trillions of dollars in debt. We simply can’t afford to take on other countries’ debt in addition to our own.” Read on and comment >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Tuesday, May 18, 2010